Friday, November 10, 2006

friday flickrs + book rec

(no new photos this week, so it's a 1976 {i think} one of me, some family and some strangers dancing {or about to dance...} around the midsummer pole in sweden. it has no relevance to today's post or the season! but look at those florals and the knee stockings on the girls in the background! and i want a green velour jumpsuit!)flickr faves this week:

the first book i read by anne lamott, i didn't like so much. (the strange thing is, i can't figure out which book it was now. i've read the descriptions of all her books and none of them fit...) but i decided to give her another chance since she is a bay area writer. the next book of hers i read was tom jones. i liked it ok, and i especially liked some of her descriptions. so poetic, inventive and right on. next i read blue shoe, and just yesterday i finished crooked little heart, both of which i quite liked. i like how vulnerable the people in her stories are. i like that all her families are non-traditional, made up of friends and single parents, etc. there are sick people, old people, kids. people struggle and love (and are sometimes cruel). her parent-child relationships are particularly real to me. i feel such tenderness for some of her characters. and i like that i recognize the places in her books.have you read any of her books? did you like them?

5 comments:

okay first, i adore those floral dresses & knee socks! i recently pulled up some photos of me circa 1979/80 & i would *so* wear that kind of outfit today!

and second, i am super fond of anne lamott. i've read all her books & i too love knowing where she is talking about. she is very real & honest in her writing & i truly appreciate that. & her wacky families are spot on to so many of our own crazy families & life happenings...

You left a comment on my blog a couple of months ago mentioning the Santa Lucia celebration here in the city because my daughter's name is Lucia. I've been trying to find some info on the web but with no luck. Do you have any links or info you can send me about it? Where is it held? I'm wondering if I need to buy tickets in advance or something and I'd like to invite my in-laws, too.

hi: my favorite anne lammott book is "Hard Laughter" a fictionalized account of her father's struggle with brain cancer. Her book "Operating Instructions" on having a baby as a single mother is one of the best, honest books about motherhood I've ever read. Finally, if you are an aspiring writer, her book "Bird by Bird" is well crafted and full of her humor and voice.

I like Anne Lamott, too, favorites being Rosie and Crooked Little Heart -- but couldn't get through Blue Shoe. Hard Laughter was so sad (but my dad had a brain tumor, too, so that may have made reading it more painful), but Bird by Bird and Operating Instructions and Traveling Mercies are all lovely. Maybe I should read one of those again. I'm having trouble getting through anything lately.